Resources for working with ERGMs

This page includes a list of books, articles, and software packages that are useful when working with ERGMs.

This list is by no means complete or representative, especially the ERGM applications section. They are the resources I came across and found helpful during my own learning process.

Readings

General Textbooks

Cranmer SJ, BA Desmarais, JW Morgan. 2020. Inferential Network Analysis. Cambridge University Press.

Lusher D, J Koskinen, G Robins. 2013. Exponential Random Graph Models for Social Networks: Theory, Methods, and Applications. Cambridge University Press.

ERGM Methodology

Cranmer SJ, BA Desmarais. 2011 “Inferential network analysis with exponential random graph models.” Political Analysis.

BA Desmarais, SJ Cranmer. 2012. “Statistical mechanics of networks: Estimation and uncertainty.” Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications.

Hunter DR et al. 2008. “ergm: A package to fit, simulate and diagnose exponentiall-family models for networks.” Journal of Statistical Software.

Snijders T et al. 2006. “New specifications for exponential random graph models.” Sociological Methodology.

Desmarais BA, SJ Cranmer. 2012. “Micro-level interpretations of exponential random graph models with applications to estuary networks.” Policy Studies Journal.

Schmid CS, BA Desmarais. 2017. “Exponential random graph models with big networks: Maximum pseudolikelihood estimation and the parametric bootstrap.” Proceedings of BigData’17.

Levy M. 2016. “gwdegree: Improving interpretation of geometrically-weighted degree estimates in exponential random graph models.” Journal of Open Source Software.

Duxbury S. 2018. “Diagnosing multicollinearity in exponential random graph models.”” Sociological Methods & Research.

ERGM Applications

Goodreau et al. 2009. “Birds of a feather, or friend of a friend? using exponential random graph models to investigate adolescent social networks.” Demography.

Leifeld P, V Schneider. 2012. “Information exchange in policy networks.” American Journal of Political Science.

Heaney MT, P Leifeld. 2018. “Contributions by interest groups to lobbying coalitions” Journal of Politics.

Song H. 2015. “Uncovering the structural underpinnings of political discussion networks: Evidence from an exponential random graph model” Journal of Communication.

Leifeld P, DR Fisher. 2017. “Membership nominations in international scientific assessments.” Nature Climate Change.

Cranmer et al. 2014. “Reciprocity and the structural determinants of the international sanctions network.” Social Networks.

Schmid CS et al. 2021. “Generative dynamics of supreme court citations: Analysis with a new statistical network model.” Political Analysis.

Goist M et al. 2019. “Reconstructing and analyzing the transnational human trafficking network.” Proceedings of ASONAM’19.

ERGM Extensions

Temporal Networks

Leifeld, et al. 2018. “Temporal exponential random graph models with btergm: Estimation and bootstrap confidence intervals”. Journal of Statistical Software.

Multilayer Networks

Chen THY. 2021. “Statistical inference for multilayer networks in political science”. Political Science Research and Methods.

Wang P et al. 2016. “Social selection models for multilevel networks.” Social Networks.

Wang P et al. 2013. “Exponential random graph models for multilevel networks.” Social Networks.

Software

statnet suite of packages for R (includes ergm and networks)

xergm package for various extensions to ERGMs

multilayer.ergm package for multilayer network extension to ERGMs

hergm package for heirarchical ERGMs

mlergm package for multilevel ERGMs